Review
- Warm-up the hands.
- Stretch the wrists.
- Play the major and minor open chords.
- Warm up your strumming muscles by relaxing the wrists and letting the pick flow over the strings.
- Play the E major chord in the "new" way and play the type 1 barre chords.
- Play the A major chord in the "new" way and play the type 2 barre chords.
- Practice the "slanting A" technique.
- Practice the type 1 minor barre chords.
- Practice the type 2 minor barre Chords.
- Play all of the type 1 mini-barre chords.
- Play all of the type 2 mini-barre chords.
- Review and practice quantitative and qualitative techniques.
- Review last week's exercises

Ready?

We've been talking over the last few weeks about transitions between chords. We've explored various techniques such as walking down/up, transition chords, etc. One of the ways you can spice up your guitar playing and make it more expressive is to pick single notes within the chords as you strum. This technique utilizes a technique that we've discussed in past lessons: striking the tonic. However, you need not be limited to merely striking the tonic of a chord. You can strike any note or a series of notes. In today's lesson, we'll take a closer look at adding an expressive bit of melody to the everyday practice of strumming.

For today's lesson, we'll use the chords G, Fmaj7, Am, and C. Here are the voicings we will use:

G major
E_3_
B_0_
G_0_
D_0_
A_2_
E_3_

Fmaj7
E_0_
B_1_
G_2_
D_3_
A_x_
E_x_

Am
E_0_
B_1_
G_2_
D_2_
A_0_
E_x_

C
E_0_
B_1_
G_0_
D_2_
A_3_
E_x_

Please re-familiarize your self with these chords. Use the strum or "down, down-up, down-up." Remember to relax your wrist and let the pick flow over the strings. For any of you that are wondering how to hold the pick for an exercise such as this, I'll tell you! Hold your pick relaxed but not so relaxed that it falls out of your fingers. If you're too stiff then you're likely to get a harder and louder sound which may be what you're looking for, but maybe not. Inevitably, you should be looking for a balance between hard and soft, tensed and relaxed. Listen carefully to the sound that you are producing and make any adjustments if necessary. The type of pick that you are playing with can also have a profound effect on the sound and feel of the guitar, so experiment with different picks until you find the right one for you.

Alright, so now that you're comfortable with the chords and the strum pattern, let's move on!

Chapter 2: (02:45) Picking Individual NotesPicking Notes Within Chords
Picking notes within chords is an effective way to add more expression to your playing. Similar to striking the tonic, all you are doing is playing a note(s) within the chord and then strumming the chord. Yes, it sounds easy and is easy if you know the little tricks behind it. Guess what? I'm gonna show you!

Strum Hand Position
You may recall some weeks ago when I talked about the importance of where you are striking the strings with your strum hand (usually right hand for most of you). This is an extremely important point when talking about picking notes within chords and strumming. It is of the utmost importance that you become more aware of where your strum hand strikes the strings, since you are not merely strumming all six strings like most of us do when we are beginners. I will be very specific as to where you need to place your strum hand in relation to the strings.

Chapter 3: (04:21) Exercise 1Exercise 1
Strike the tonic of a G chord and then strum or "down-up, down-up." Your strum hand should be positioned right around the low E string with your pick right above the string. Then, while holding down the Fmaj7 chord, strike the G string on the second fret (an A note) and then strum or "down-up, down-up." For this chord, your strum hand should be towards the center of the sound hole above the D and G strings.

Now you're going to play the Am chord. Strike the D string on the second fret (an E note) and then strum or "down-up, down-up." Your strum hand should stay in the same position it was in for the Fmaj7 chord even though you are striking a different string. Finally, hold down the C chord and strike the tonic which in this case is your A string, third fret (a C note). Then, strum the chord in the same manner that you have been strumming the other chords. Your strum hand should be positioned directly above the A string with your pick right above the string as well. Watch me in the video for more on this.

Time
As usual, it is of the utmost importance that you keep your time straight. Please utilize the tactics that you have found to be effective for you to keep your time signature straight such as tapping your foot or using a metronome. It's easy to lose your place from a rhythmic standpoint when you start to pick notes within chords, so now would be a good time to firm up your rhythm skills.

Chapter 4: (02:25) Exercise 2Exercise 2
Using the same four chords (now that we're good and warmed-up with them) we're going to make things a little more complex. But before we move on, I want you all to think about time and the amount of time that you have on each chord. How much room do you have to work with within the time span allotted? Tap, stomp, click, etc. through the time signature so that you're intimately familiar with the amount of time that you have to work with. Now, play the four chords again. This time, just strum each chord with one downstroke. Keep the same tempo from when you were playing the rhythm in the previous exercise, but only strum once on each chord. Why are we doing this you ask? I want you all to get a rock-solid idea of how time dictates the amount of flair and technique that you are able to put into your rhythms. You all know that the time signature doesn't change (at least for our present purposes) regardless of the frills and fills that you put into your rhythm, so it is incredibly important that you maintain the integrity of the song first! Alright, now that you have a crystal clear idea of how much time you have to work with in this particular exercise, what else can we fit into our rhythm?

Chapter 5: (01:43) Exercise 3Exercise 3
We're going to pick more notes within each chord, so please use Exercise 1 as a template for hand positioning. Play the four chords of the day again making sure that you are very familiar and comfortable with them. Now, play the G chord. Strum the chord with one downstroke. Then, play the following notes: A, B, D and E. Play the notes by first striking the A string open, then holding the A string down on the second fret (B note) with your first finger. The remaining two notes are played on the D string. If you need to do this exercise at half speed to get the hang of it, please do so.

Chapter 6: (02:13) Exercise 4Exercise 4
The transition between the G and Fmaj7 chords might be a little tricky. So what I would like you to do is play the previous exercise and then play the Fmaj7 chord. You know by now that it can be beneficial to break things down and play them in pieces. Play the G, the four notes, and then transition into the F chord while keeping your time in tact. Play this exercise numerous times until you feel more comfortable with it.

Chapter 7: (03:02) Exercise 5 and 6Exercise 5
Now we're going to combine the Fmaj7 chord with some single notes. Play the Fmaj7 chord with one down stroke and then play the following notes: D, E, F and G. Play the notes by first playing the D string open, then hold the D string down on the second fret (E note) with your second or middle finger. Then, hold the D string down at the third fret (F note) with your third finger. Next, play the G string open. Do you see the similarities between what we did on the G and on the Fmaj7 chord? Are you able to keep in time and still play all of the notes? Again, slow down to half speed and play this exercise over and over until you feel more comfortable with it.

Exercise 6
Now it's your turn! Which notes do you think would work well within the Am and C chords? How many can you fit into the structure without losing time? Consider this an exercise in creativity as well as you need not play any specific notes. Just run with your inner impulses.

Supplemental Learning Material

Member Comments about this Lesson

VIds working fine for me...
SUGGETION...please PLAY a lick or lesson all the way through...BEFORE you spend time talking about it...easier to try to make it happen after we know what it should sound like...thanks

Hey Belgium nice to hear from you! When picking or arpeggiating strings you will sometimes pick on the top and sometimes on the bottom. It just depends upon your pattern but.....go with what feels right and you are probably doing the right thing. Good luck Elise and join me on thursdays in the Q and A as this is exactly what we discuss! Talk soon, Mark

Hey Donald, nice to hear from you. Yes, I'm all about changing the traditional around and making things more interesting and "liquifying" chords is a great way to do it, right? Thanx for the feedback! Mark

hi Mark, these exercises helped me out on the picking notes. Hard at first to keep beat and speed together, but with your help I got it down..started very slow then added speed. Now it seems my brain and fingers are friends :-)

Is anyone else having this happen? I can't reproduce the error. If it gets worse in quality setting it almost sounds like something else on your computer was running and hogging all of your CPU cycles and cause something weird to happen, because all of the quality settings come from the same source so that shouldn't happen. I will have Kevin look into it just in case something is wrong though, but it would be really helpful to get more feedback from you guys to help solve this.

It's about 8 hours since my comment and the syncing is just as bad. Nothing's running on my computer and my CPU usage graph is varying between 0% and 4%. It's also early morning here so ISP traffic is low and no one's sharing the Internet connection in the household.
This is the first time I've experienced this on any of the videos. I wouldn't have bothered mentioning except that it's so off-putting.
No one has mentioned it which adds to the mystery.

Do you have Flash 10? If you don't, or aren't sure, it's definitely worth a try. Just follow the instructions for download and installation here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ Then reboot your computer and try again. You can write me if you need assistance with this at all.

Did you by chance update to Flash 10 specifically using your Firefox browser? It needs to be updated on both browsers separately. I'm with Kevin on this one; I tested this issue in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, all quality settings on both servers, and could not replicate the issue. Hope to get it figured out soon. :)

Hi Jeff, on the third day it's still happening. To sum up (1) works fine in IE - so I don't believe the problem is with my computer, 'Net connection etc. (2) The problem only occurs with Firefox (latest version and latest version of Flash) (3) Gets worse as I go up the quality levels. (4) This is the only video lesson I've done where this has occurred - all others are fine (5) As I'm the only one experiencing it, it appears to be one of those weird things that's never resolved so I'll use IE for this one. Cheers, Ron ...

Guys with the questions you ask you don't appear to have read what I wrote above. Yes, I have the latest Flash as advised by Nessa (I had it anyway). As I move up each quality the sync gets worse. This is the only video I've encountered it one. It happens ONLY with Firefox not IE which rules out several possibilities such as 'Net speed. Anyway, as it's the only one with this that I've encountered I'll move on.

I just tested every scene on every quality on every server (56 different files) on two different PCs (one of them being quite slow) and everything works great for me as well. If anyone is having audio/video issues, email me directly. Are you having these issues on any other videos or just this? Does it happen on every scene? Every quality? Every server? Being very specific when contacting me will help out a lot.

Hi guys, if you're having problems viewing any of the content try switching the server. Synotic I checked each quality with all scenes and all the content is there.
Bluezoldy the audio that is used for Mark's commentary is extracted from the same camera that is used to film his first person view, so there's never any syncing problems with his mouth. If you are running on a slow internet connection, or you haven't updated to the latest flash player this could cause the issue as well.

Mark brings us a very appealing aspect to better understand the guitar. With his explanation of "liquified" chords, mark will explain how to move up and down the guitar to create different chord voicing.

Length: 25:32Difficulty: 2.0Members Only

About Mark LincolnView Full Biography
Mark Lincoln was born in S. California but was raised near Portland Oregon in a town called Beaverton. When he was twelve years old, he began his journey into the realm of the creative by composing poetry and was later published in a journal called "In Dappled Sunlight." He wrote for four years until his older sister blessed him with his first guitar, an old beat-up nylon stringed classical guitar. Mark played that guitar for five years, continuing to compose his own lyrics and starting the process of matching his own words with chords that he was learning on the guitar. He learned to play chords from his friends and from music books that he both bought and borrowed. Mark cited his four biggest influences, at that point at least, as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, The Rolling Stones.

Mark cites his most current influences as Radiohead, U2, older music by REM, and Peter Gabriel amongst others. He performs with two acoustic guitars, one being a six-string M-36 Martin with a three-pieced back for increased bass response, and a Guild Twelve-string which is his most recent acquisition. Mark is fond of saying that the twelve-string guitar is better because you get two guitars for the price of one, but he still plays his Martin equally as much and with the same passion.

Mark ended up in Fort Collins Colorado where he currently lives, works as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and continues to write, teach and perform music. He currently performs with a group called "Black Nelson" as well as with a number of other seasoned professional musicians including his cousin David, a virtuoso lead-guitar player. Mark has performed in many of the smaller venues in Denver and Boulder, as well as some of the larger ones including the Fox Theatre, The Boulder Theatre, Herman's Hideaway, and also at The Soiled Dove where he opened for Jefferson Starship as a soloist. Some of Mark's originals are also available for your listening pleasure on MySpace.

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